Mariners lose out in bidding for Iwakuma

Hisashi Iwakuma likely would have been a No. 2 starter for the Mariners. (Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

The Mariners came up short in the bidding war to negotiate with Japanese right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma. Even worse, they lost out to the division rival Oakland Athletics.

Major League Baseball announced Monday that the A’s have 30 days to sign him. The Texas Rangers are also believed to have bid on Iwakuma. The league did not reveal the amount of the winning bid, but it was expected to be about $16 million.

Iwakuma, 29, a starter for the Rakuten Golden Eagles, is considered the second best pitcher in Japan after Yu Darvish. Darvish said last month that he will stay in Japan next season.

“The Oakland A’s are excited to have had our bid for Hisashi Iwakuma accepted by the Rakuten Golden Eagles,” the A’s said in a news release. “Out of respect for the posting process and for Mr. Iwakuma and his representative, we will not have any comment until the 30-day negotiation period comes to an end.”

The development may come as a relief to Mariners fans who would prefer to see the team acquire some offense in the offseason. But the team reportedly has a separate budget for acquiring Japanese talent, so it might not have made a difference if they had won the bidding.

Jane Lee of MLB.com speculated the Iwakuma could be used in a trade to acquire a bat in Oakland, perhaps being packaged with right-hander Vin Mazzaro.

Iwakuma went 10-9 with a 2.82 ERA in 28 games last season. He would have been the No. 2 starter in a rotation anchored by Felix Hernandez. Doug Fister, Jason Vargas and Michael Pineda should make up the back end of the rotation, but the team still needs to find one more starter.